Powder coating is widely used in industry to prevent equipment corrosion. More than 600 companies produce coating powder in China, but most do not understand the explosion hazard of such products. In the present investigation the explosibility parameters of a coating powder were determined. Results showed that the coating powder is explosible, though the ignition energy is higher than those of normal dusts such as coal powder and corn starch. Based on these experimental findings, a systematic explosion protection method is proposed, with explosion isolation and explosion venting being adopted as the main protective methods. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.